The body as cultural home: exploring, embodying, and navigating the complexities of multiple identities

ABSTRACT

The increasing number of clients with multicultural backgrounds pose a challenge for a mental health field that has mostly addressed the psychological needs of culturally diverse clients in a monolithic and linear fashion. In addition, the body’s role in identity development and expression has not been fully integrated in either the theory or practice of counselling. This article addresses these gaps by advocating for a somatic psychotherapy process of identity exploration and negotiation of individuals with multiple cultural backgrounds. This process is meant to support not only more congruent hybrid identities, but also transform the vulnerabilities of this population in increased resiliency and strength. A composite case is used to illustrate this clinical approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity development
• somatic identity
• hybridation
• code-switching
• embodied culture
• resiliency
• multiple identities

One consistent trend in the last several decades has been the increasing number of multiracial individuals in the United States (Jones et al., 2021; Parker et al., 2015). Although part of this trend is due to the redesign of census measurements, it also reveals deeper ongoing transitions: a demographic shift in the population (Jones et al., 2021; Parker et al., 2015), a cultural change leading to less stigma around multiracial identities (Townsend et al., 2009; Yazdiha, 2010), and a centring of public discussions on identity and race in the United States (Marshburn et al., 2021).

In parallel, a growing body of research shows specific mental health vulnerabilities for this demographic group (Binning et al., 2009; Downie et al., 2004; Shih et al., 2010; Suzuki-Crumly & Hyers, 2004; Townsend et al., 2009; Villegas-Gold & Tran, 2018). However, there has been little emphasis on the therapeutic approaches and treatment to address these challenges; instead, the research ‘has focused largely on the documentation of racial identification, analysis of psychological adjustment, and understanding the broader political consequences of mixed-race identification’ (Rockquemore et al., 2009, p. 13).

Additionally, the diversification of the population is in high contrast with the homogeneity of the counselling field, which continues to be predominantly white (Lin et al., 2018). It has also been shown that therapist’s identity development is positively correlated with multicultural competences (Vinson & Neimeyer, 2003); this could be a challenge for white therapists who tend to be less aware of their own cultural and identity background (Hays et al., 2008). It follows the need to further develop the counsellors’ sense of identity so they can offer culturally sensitive interventions, including facilitating processes of identity development and expression for their clients. After all, as Ratts and colleagues posed: ‘The social construction of identity is a more dynamic and complex social phenomenon than had been originally conceptualized by the nascent multicultural counselling literature’ (2016, p. 31). New approaches in multicultural counselling will need to count less on gathering knowledge and clinical skill about specific groups, and more on capacities to engage in an open process of exploring intersectionality of identities.

Furthermore, with few exceptions (Caldwell, 2016; Pass Erickson, 2020; Pope, 2020; Warren Edelman, 2018) the available research on identity development and expression has not provided enough focus on its somatic and non-verbal aspects. Not only is the first experience of the self somatic (Fogel, 2009), but also the non-verbal interactions with others assert and define who the person is and what their position is in the social hierarchy (Johnson, 2015; Johnson et al., 2018).

This article advocates for a clinical and applied focus on clients’ development and expression of multiple identities in a situational context, and for the inclusion of sensorial and somatic elements in examining and negotiating those identities. These processes aim at facilitating identity integration, reducing mental health and physical costs, as well as increasing the resiliency and opportunities available to this specific population. A composite case is used to illustrate this clinical approach and interventions.

The body as self: sensorial and somatic markers of identity(ies)

Although Cartesianism galvanised the birth of modern science and medicine, it also established the hierarchical position of reason over body, fostering a legacy of little understanding on how somatic experiences contribute to psychological processes (Mehta, 2011). This can be seen in early models of identity development, which mainly focused on cognitive processes as foundation of the self (Caldwell, 2016). More recently, efforts have been made to claim the importance of sensorimotor processes as defining factors of identity formation and expression throughout the lifespan (Caldwell, 2016; Pass Erickson, 2020).

Earlier work shows that the development of an embodied cultural identity unfolds through ongoing sensorimotor exposure and interaction within one’s own community of belonging (Dosamantes-Beaudry, 1997; Foster, 2014); this identity is both perceived, shaped and mostly expressed without conscious awareness. For Bennett and Castiglioni (2004), embodying a culture is an experience, which rests on becoming aware of the sensorial stimuli one receives from the space and people around. Such environmental cues can be, for example, sounds like water being sprinkled on an earth floor; the blended smell of gasoline from cars and trash in the streets; the distance between people when greeting each other; the length of eye contact in a conversation; or perhaps, the level of touch between two people – all non-verbal signals letting a person know they are in a particular cultural context. Embodying a culture also involves an implicit body memory that unfolds in dialogue with these environmental cues, shaping unique movement gestures and styles that are culturally bound (Cohen & Leung, 2009). As Dosamantes-Beaudry described, ‘The latent aspects of a culture are most readily revealed through non-verbal modes of expression – through the way members of a particular culture use their senses, gesture, move, organize themselves spatially, create interpersonal distances and create synchronous rhythms’ (1999, p. 227).

These implicit somatic memories become the foundation of categorisation processes of what feels ‘familiar’ and ‘unfamiliar,’ and contribute to an unconscious classification of ‘me’ versus ‘not me’ (Dunham et al., 2008; Ogden et al., 2021). Because these categories are not only defined by the immediate context of the individual, but also by the socio-political environment, they are also linked with social norms of ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ The associations between somatic perceptions of others (for example, specific movement styles, speech and gestures) and a societal moral valance constitute the subliminal basis of intergroup prejudices (Moore & Yamamoto, 2012).

In addition, non-verbal communication is one of the most hidden aspects of socio-political dynamics (Ellyson & Dovidio, 2012; Johnson et al., 2018). Johnson (2009, 2015) and Gard (2003), for example, highlight the importance of non-verbal messages in the subjection of marginalised groups, accomplished through repetitive gestural reminders, which often go unnoticed and become internalised conventions. These conventions define who can speak/interrupt first, initiate touch, have larger kinespheres, move with less formality, etc. (Johnson, 2009, 2015). In this sense, the repertoire of movement available to each identity category in a particular context is socially and dialogically constituted.

Identities in multiple contexts and the negotiation of the self

Some critiques of traditional identity developmental models make overt their individualistic focus over collectivistic views (Schachter, 2005); or their focus on developmental trajectories of people of the dominant group (read white), which tends to relegate aspects of racial/ethnic development to the side (Harrell & Gallardo, 2008). There have been already a few contributions to study the development of multiracial identities (McClain, 2004; Poston, 1990; Renn, 2000; Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). One of the critical foci of this literature is how the different ethnic/racial identities are negotiated and in what degree do they integrate. In what follows, the article focuses on this process of identity negotiation in a situational context.

The shifting between particular cultural/ethnic aspects of the self, known as code-switching, initially arose in the field of linguistics as a way to describe the unique decision-making processes that occurred for bilingual or multilingual individuals as they chose which language to use in particular contexts (Heller, 1988). This concept was applied and extended to the mental and behavioural shifts experienced by individuals with two or more cultural backgrounds in response to environmental cues, which is now being referred as cultural frame switching (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Hong et al., 2000). These concepts have already begun to be applied to body psychotherapy (Warren Edelman, 2018) and to dance movement therapy (Desmond, 1997; Hanna, 1990; Pope, 2020) to define the lived experience of alternating between two or more somatic codes.

While somatic code-switching or body bilingualism presupposes concrete and discrete categories of identity that are turned on and off depending on the environmental cues, the notion of hybridisation evokes more fluid, dynamic and continuous dialogues (Hall & Nilep, 2015; Yazdiha, 2010; Zentella, 1997). This process describes how direct and indirect exposure to multiple cultures and subcultures leads to unique combinations and fusions, as well as the creation of new forms, practices and styles of movement (Herman & Kempen, 1998). However, as highlighted by Benet-Martínez et al. (2002), the outcome of this somatic hybridisation depends to a large extent on the congruence or opposition of the different identities of the individual.

Immigration trajectories present additional nuances on processes of hybridisation (McDonald, 2010; Morariu, 2020). When a migrant interfaces with the host cultural environment, hybridisation processes are also dependent on the identity developmental stage of the individual (for example, emigrating as a child is not the same as doing so as an adult), the reasons to emigrate, the length of time since emigrating and the level of homogeneity/diversity of the community where the person resides, among other things (Huynh et al., 2011; McDonald, 2010). Additionally, the longer the time the person is away from their own culture, the more distant is the lived experience of those origins, while simultaneously lacking a felt sense of belonging to any of their affiliated cultures. This state of ‘cultural homelessness’ (Vivero & Jenkins, 1999) can arise not only for long-term migrants, but also for mixed raced individuals as well as adoptees that hold identities from non-dominant races/ethnicities. These individuals face the ongoing perception in both the host and/or dominant society, as well as their cultures of origin, as being ‘other’ or ‘different,’ never completely finding acceptance in any one cultural context.

The costs to the cultural body and embodiment as a resource

Several studies have highlighted the harmful costs of holding multiple identities in a hierarchical society where they do not conform with the acceptable norm. Impacts identified include increased levels of anxiety and depression, decreased cognitive and emotional flexibility and a permanent state of low hypervigilance (Binning et al., 2009; Downie et al., 2004; Rockquemore et al., 2009; Shih et al., 2010; Suzuki-Crumly & Hyers, 2004; Townsend et al., 2009; Vivero & Jenkins, 1999). This also correlates with poorer physical health, such as higher stress, and increased heart rate and blood pressure (Harrell et al., 2003; Paradies et al., 2015).

Not only is the body the first foundation of one’s ethnic/racial/cultural identities, as well as the locus of negotiation of societal norms, but it is also the first responder to trauma (Ogden et al., 2021; Walters et al., 2011). When a person detects danger, it is often first neurocepted through non-verbal cues such as a threatening posture, flat or low-pitch vocal tones, and lack of facial expressions (Porges, 2017). This estimation of danger happens outside of consciousness, an appraisal done in mere moments that directly affects how the nervous system prepares the body to respond (Ogden & Minton, 2000). In a hierarchical society, these responses to danger may also be triggered by cultural introjections of difference (Ogden et al., 2021).

When there is little awareness of these somatic reactions to threat or cues for safety and belonging, the mind fills the blanks with narratives often drawn either from former traumatic experiences and/or societal prejudices (Ogden et al., 2021). Additionally, being unaware of and not knowing how to process automatic and defensive reactions can result in a sense of puzzlement, confusion, and exhaustion, which depletes energy and produces chronic movement and body tensions, eventually unfolding in both physiologic and psychological chronic ailments (Ogden & Minton, 2000).

However, the body can also be the source of medicine and metabolisation of these experiences (Ogden et al., 2021), as well as the locus to hold more congruent identities (McDonald, 2010; Morariu, 2020). Individuals with multiple cultural backgrounds can develop a unique resiliency emerging from the need to move between communities (Dokter, 1998; Vivero & Jenkins, 1999; Warren Edelman, 2018). At the same time, individuals of the non-dominant culture/race can mediate many of those highlighted negative impacts through embodiment practices (Leighton, 2018; Menakem, 2021) and the development of racial identity and pride (Utsey et al., 2008). Bringing awareness both to an individual’s somatic identity and safety cues helps them gauge personal responses to their environment. This prevents reacting behaviourally in a prejudiced or fearful manner by consciously utilising somatic resources to ground the self, metabolise different levels of activation and make decisions around protection and resourcing.

Clinical approach and interventions to work with multiple identities

In what follows, the authors describe a clinical approach to support clients in developing a multiracial identity that moves towards integration (Poston, 1990), blendedness (Lilgendahl et al., 2018) or hybridation, while being situated in specific contexts (Renn, 2000). In addition, from a somatic counselling lens, the authors intend to frame this process as a culturally responsive embodied exploration. The understanding is that developing an embodied multicultural identity has a positive impact on the well-being and resiliency of the client. A composite case is used to illustrate the process of a) mapping identities: identifying somatic markers of different heritages; b) moving identities: negotiating the foreground-background dynamics between different cultural contexts; c) integrating identities: exploring the hybridisation of somatic codes of movement and new forms of expressing the self; and d) resourcing identities: finding somatic resources to regulate the costs of multiple identities and oppression dynamics.

Composite case study: Yatzil

Yatzil was a cisgender female-identified client in her mid-forties. She was mixed-race born in the United States, and currently lived in Denver, Colorado. Her mother was a Latina born in Oaxaca, Mexico, who emigrated as an adult, and her father was a white man from Iowa, United States. She was the third child of four siblings: quiet, sensitive, alert to others’ needs around her, and among all, the one that matched her mother’s darker skin. She worked as a teacher in a private high school with a predominantly white demographic for both students and teachers, lived in the same neighbourhood as her mother’s and relatives from Oaxaca, and was single. She came to therapy to address depressive symptoms, the hurt from multiple racial microaggressions experienced throughout her life and more recently at work, and a sense of not belonging anywhere.

Mapping somatic identities

As part of the initial intake, it was relevant to explore with Yatzil how her identities and cultural contexts had shaped the symptoms she was presenting in therapy. Although Yatzil was acutely aware of her racial identities and how they impacted her daily life, she was disconnected from her own somatic experience of these realities. This became one of the first goals in therapy. The therapist led the client into a guided imagery exercise to identify: a) body posture and kinaesthetic or physical movement qualities associated with specific identities; b) sensorial components of her identities; and c) the differential use of personal, interpersonal and public space (proxemics).

Yatzil, with the support of the therapist, would recall different scenes to study how she moved and interacted in a particular social space, as if it were a silent movie. Through this experiential exercise, Yatzil connected specific movements, gestures, and senses to her Mexican or white identities. She also studied how she showed up and expressed herself in her workplace using this visualisation exercise. As Yatzil went through recalling these different contexts, she began identifying qualifying words, affective tones and internalised messages for each space, which were drawn in a map for future reference in therapy (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Mapping somatic identities

Moving identities

After the map was drawn, the therapist supported Yatzil’s embodied exploration of these identities by using an experiential movement exercise (See Figure 2), adapted from the Identity Expression Infinity Loop (Warren Edelman, 2018). They focused first on the differences between the maternal and paternal sides of her family. Yatzil was invited to choose two places in the room separated by at least 5–10 steps, with one location symbolising her mother’s family (Point A) and another her father’s (Point B). The therapist guided her to place herself in the middle of the two points (Neutral Space), and to mindfully explore what she noticed in her somatic reactions, emotional responses and cognitions when she oriented her body towards each point: Yatzil was able to look comfortably and directly towards Point A, and felt an inner pull through a reach impulse in her arms and hands, while also sensing a slight discomfort in her upper body, which she associated with ‘too much energy.’ In contrast, when orienting towards Point B, Yatzil retreated slightly, and noticed an internal slower pace, with a shallower breath, which was both easier and slightly more uncomfortable. By switching between each of these contrasting reactions, Yatzil observed how her body unconsciously reacted to specific racial environment/cultural context in a unique way, with different somatic responses, movement impulses, and internalised beliefs.

Figure 2. Moving identities loop

Over the course of a number of sessions, Yatzil deepened this experience by introducing different movement qualities as she physically alternated between Points A and B. She was encouraged to let her body inform her present moment awareness with more somatic details, and to allow her movements to unfold their own narratives, while the therapist mirrored with movements and supported with verbal reflections. Yatzil described the felt sense of her Mexican identity as expansive, which she noticed in the way she moved her body: her movement style in that familial context was looser and filled a larger kinesphere. She also observed an increased pattern of touching and showing affection, which she loved. However, Yatzil shared that sometimes being with her Mexican relatives also felt overwhelming, specifically the loud and quick pace of the speech. When the therapist supported the client in accessing felt sense memories of her white side of the family, Yatzil noticed inner shifts in her body and behaviour. She reported an internal respite and quiet, was able to feel a slower pace and less stimulus from the environment, which resulted in a calmer nervous system. She also shared longing for more capacity to move freely and connect through touch, as she felt slightly more restricted, as if she was hiding.

Integrating identities

After exploring her response to both environments, Yatzil was asked to notice the physical modifications that occurred while transitioning between Points A and B, including what she was repressing or expressing. Through moving between these two cultural contexts, Yatzil gained insight into this unique state of not belonging and became aware that she was not feeling ‘at home’ in either place. With the support of the therapist, Yatzil started breaking down her ‘either-or’ expectations of identity by exploring her felt sense of ‘home.’

Through repetition, practice and increased awareness, Yatzil gained comfortability with the transitions between those two contexts. She began to identify not only elements that were constant, but also a new way of moving: a personal hybridisation form or third language that talked about who she was, transcending altogether the binary cultural frame switching. Yatzil noticed a certain tilt of the hip that was less rigid, and a sense of expansiveness (specifically an elongation of the neck), combined with fluid movements of the arms within a medium kinesphere (neither too large nor too small) and a slight vertical presence. She mentioned that she was feeling both calm and playful, and she could ‘touch’ others with her words of affection. These subtle embodiments were both part of her movement style, as well as the hybrid embodiment that encompassed parts of her Mexican and white backgrounds (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Integrating hybrid identities

By taking the time to play and embody somatic cues and movements, Yatzil gained a sense of uniqueness, an increased feeling of belonging (even though never fully) in both communities, and an identity pride that made her feel stronger. She was at peace with her mixed expression of cultures; she had found her cultural home in her own body.

Resourcing identities

Because, as it has been pointed out, multiple identities in unequal societies are associated with higher costs to the body, a big focus of the therapy was on resourcing the client, especially at her workplace, a predominantly white high school. With the support of the therapist, Yatzil worked on recognising what helped her the most in different cultural contexts, specifically identifying a somatic resource that felt unique to her. She noticed an extension of her neck as part of her ‘third code,’ which after being asked by the clinician, she associated with the belief ‘I can be here.’ She took that resource and started to practice bringing it into more hostile environments, for example, her workplace. While noticing her neck elongating, Yatzil could also keep the rest of her body protected with a slight increase on muscle tone (less expansive movements and more contained gestures), which felt less vulnerable.

At the same time, while exploring her body adaptations to different cultural contexts, Yatzil was also able to find consistent expressive elements. In both places, she described herself as a quiet and bright person, eager to support others, while having a kind and gentle presence. She talked about this internal state as a ‘warm sun that is always with me if I pay attention,’ even as she moved into more hostile environments. She was happily surprised to share that she had the power to turn down the intensity of that sun or to turn it up, but that it was always ‘there.’

Therapist and client practiced how to embody these resources by both visualising future situations that the client was nervous about. She worked with the support of the therapist to explore the negative impact of racism and microaggressions on her body at her workplace, specifically studying the somatic responses she noticed at her faculty meetings. In this case, Yatzil realised how her white faculty colleagues interrupted her more often than others and quickly diminished her contributions as non-important. In those instances, her immediate impulse was to lower her head towards the right, averting the eyes and retreating into silence. She reported feeling shame, which was paired with the belief ‘I am stupid.’

Through conversations with the therapist that helped her contextualise those gestures as non-verbal societal norms, Yatzil was able to also see how her colleagues were occupying and colonising the space while silencing her. She also identified her automatic introjected racism, expressed through the posture of submission and her negative self-belief. With this awareness and the resources built in therapy, Yatzil started to regulate her internal states by bringing her ‘internal sun’ and the somatic resources she had identified. This increased her capacity to make choices regarding when to advocate for herself in the faculty meetings or with other peers and when to choose protection and withdrawal. Through this somatic exploration in context, Yatzil also recognised how this submission pattern had played throughout her life and how it was reinforced every time she experienced a microaggression or a racist behaviour. With this framework of reference, Yatzil was more able to identify somatic triggers when facing lack of safety, increasingly trusting herself to regulate her body and choose appropriate responses (e.g., sometimes calling others out, sometimes removing herself from the situation), while uncoupling these reactions from her introjected racism and negative self-perceptions. The therapist and the client also practiced transitioning through movement loops between oppressive situations and safe situations, to increase the capacity for the body to take action. After a few months, Yatzil reported decreased powerlessness, confusion and exhaustion in daily interactions, as well as reduced body tensions that she was not aware she had been carrying for so long, paired with increased self-esteem and pride, while starting to consider a job change.

Conclusion

In recognition of the increasing numbers of individuals with multiple cultural backgrounds, this article has highlighted the need to conceptualise the development and expression of identity throughout the lifespan and incorporate this process in the therapy room. This presents counsellors with an opportunity to foster cultural sensitivity and increase their capacity to support clients in their unique exploration on how these identities dialogue and intersect with each other in a situational reality. Past literature on identity development and expression has neglected the role of the body: this article has advocated for placing the body in the foreground for housing cultural identities, but also as a fundamental therapeutic avenue to provide cultural cues and resources to support the expression of those identities in complex societies. The process of ‘mapping’ and ‘moving’ identities provides an avenue towards cultural embodied expression by bringing awareness to the unconscious nature of the movement and body qualities of identity. Additionally, these tools also facilitate the identification of non-verbal expression of societal norms and a bottom-up understanding of how individuals perpetrate or respond to microaggressions, as well as its relationship to internal biases. This, in turn, increases perspective and facilitates differentiation, decolonisation of bodies from external impositions, metabolisation of stress on the body and building somatic resourcing templates for the client. In sum, these tools help transforming the challenges and costs of subjugation into intercultural flexibility and resiliency.

Limitations and future directions

While the article focuses on race and ethnicity dynamics, the authors have also been applying this approach to other identities. Furthermore, although the composite case study centres the client’s identity exploration, it is important to acknowledge that the therapist-client dynamic in the therapy room is a process of co-creation. It will be important in the future to expand this framework to the therapist’s awareness of their own identity, as well as to how societal re-enactments can occur from body-to-body exchanges in the therapeutic room. The authors believe these skills and framework will increase counsellors’ cultural sensitivity and capacity to work with diversity and intersectionality by increasing their ability to dialogically negotiate body-to-body how to welcome all parts of one’s own self and to be human with each other.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laia Jorba Galdos

Laia Jorba Galdos, LPC, PhD (she/ella), is a Catalan lecturer, counsellor, supervisor and mentor, originally from Barcelona and migrant by choice to the United States. She holds a MA in Somatic Counseling from Naropa University and is a faculty member at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. Laia works with community-based programmes and has a private practice, focusing on embodied experience of migration and somatic trauma. She has taught nationally and internationally.

Marcia Warren

Marcia Warren, LPC (she/her) provides counselling, consulting, and training in the areas of cultural awareness, embodied identity, equity and inclusion, and intercultural communication. She holds a MA in Somatic Counseling from Naropa University and is the creator of her own therapeutic model, Embodied Code-Switching ®. Marcia is proud of her heritage and identifies herself as an enrolled member of the Santa Clara Pueblo, an indigenous (or Tribal) nation in New Mexico, and as Brazilian-Italian.